Leeming, early '80's. Green Dragon, Exelby. The local Fruit and Veg trader was bragging, to a 'new face' in the pub, of how he ripped of the RAF by supplying the cheapest and tattiest fruit and veg to the Station and charging full whack.

The 'new face' was the new Catering Officer.

Whoops.

On arrival at our "SH force field location" (an old farm in Northern Germany) we were told that we would be living off "COMPO" all week (I think BAOR/RAFG stocks were coming up for their best before date). The army delivered said rations by the pallet full and quickly departed. To our "delight" it was all "Menu D".

Thankfully we had a very resourceful camp cook. On night two we had a lamb roast dinner - we didn't ask where it came from.

Marham 1984 - station still coming to terms with the new, fast and sparsely-crewed Tornado after many years of Victor catering. 27 Sqn deployment to Goose Bay (supported by Victors, of course). Ration boxes delivered to the sqn just before walk, not many crews opened them to check what was provided before setting off. At an appropriate time (after the second bracket), opened my box to discover a chicken leg wrapped in clingfilm(!) and half pint cardboard carton of orange squash - the kind you had to pull apart to open! All I wanted was a few mouthfuls, so had to land at Goose Bay with an open carton of OJ ballanced on the generator swithches - only way of keeping it level. Unsurprisingly, nobody managed the chicken legs! Explaining to the caterers about eating/drinking in fast-jet cockpits was fun! Loved the egg banjos and babies heads on exercise though!

ManandBoy - oranges?

in earlier days of high light and high cabin altitude sandwiches were prepared bite size and fried foods and beans were not in the feeder menus, probably why there were separate aircrew feeders.

Feeding only QRA crews at weekends we could order what we liked - like chicken platter on a tray with two chickens and all the trimmings, or salmon in aspic, or birthday cakes etc.

MandB, I never did get to understand the FJ lunchbox, e.g crumbly egg sarnies cut in triangles, lump of frozen chicken etc. I usually had a Mars bar or two in the ankle pockets! :ok:

OAP

#78 BEagle. Thank you for your endorsement of my ( and the mayors ) culinarary skills. But you should have been on the States Trainer on the leg where Vascodegama was resposible for the catering. The Lobster Thermidor starter was excellent.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....bda2fc81da.jpg

Ah!!, the 10 man pack

Thanks for sight of compo contents/menus - happy memories

Tengah, you mentioned presumably a nav who used the nom de plume Vasco de Gama. Many years ago, 1965 to be precise, when the RAF College tour to the US in 2 Britannias took place, our nav sent round route and progress up dates, signing each in the name of a different historic navigator, eg Vasco da Gama, John Cabot, etc. Wouldn't be the same guy would it

Ah, the route progress map. Seemed to die out after the Brits. Or perhaps on our VC10 over Greenland the nav was too busy. We used the weather map from the Telegraph and made our own. We knew we were off track even if the nav didn't.

If I may have your indulgence..

"Stewart's family on both sides had deep military roots, as both grandfathers had fought in the Civil War,[9] and his father had served during both the Spanish–American War and World War I. Stewart considered his father to be the biggest influence on his life, so it was not surprising that, when another war came, he too was willing to serve. Members of his family had previously been in the infantry, but Stewart chose to become a flier.[30]

An early interest in flying led Stewart to gain his private pilot certificate in 1935 and commercial pilot license in 1938. He often flew cross-country to visit his parents in Pennsylvania, navigating by the railroad tracks.[12] Nearly two years before the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Stewart had accumulated over 400 hours of flying time.[31]

Considered a highly proficient pilot, he entered a cross-country race as a co-pilot in 1939.[32] Stewart, along with musician/composer Hoagy Carmichael, saw the need for trained war pilots, and joined with other Hollywood celebrities to invest in Thunderbird Field, a pilot-training school built and operated by Southwest Airways in Glendale, Arizona. This airfield became part of the United States Army Air Forces training establishment and trained more than 10,000 pilots during World War II.[33]

In October 1940, Stewart was drafted into the United States Army but was rejected for failing to meet the weight requirements for his height for new recruits—Stewart was 5 pounds (2.3 kg) under the standard. To get up to 143 pounds (65 kg), he sought out the help of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's muscle man and trainer Don Loomis, who was noted for his ability to help people gain or lose weight in his studio gymnasium. Stewart subsequently attempted to enlist in the Air Corps, but still came in underweight, although he persuaded the enlistment officer to run new tests, this time passing the weigh-in,[34]
[N 2]with the result that Stewart enlisted and was inducted in the Army on March 22, 1941. He became the first major American movie star to wear a military uniform in World War II.[1]

Stewart enlisted as a private[12]
[35] but applied for an Air Corps commission and Service Pilot rating as both a college graduate and a licensed commercial pilot. Soon to be 33, he was almost six years beyond the maximum age restriction for Aviation Cadet training, the normal path of commissioning for pilots, navigators and bombardiers. The now-obsolete auxiliary pilot ratings (Glider Pilot, Liaison Pilot and Service Pilot) differed from the Aviation Cadet Program in that a higher maximum age limit and corrected vision were allowed upon initial entry. Stewart received his commission as a second lieutenant on January 1, 1942,[36] shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, while a corporal at Moffett Field, California. He received his Service Pilot rating at that time, under the Service Pilot program established in March 1942 for experienced former civilian pilots. Although Service Pilots were normally restricted to noncombat flying, they were permitted to fly overseas on cargo and utility transports, typically with Air Transport, Ferry or Troop Carrier Commands. Under the regulations of the period, a Service Pilot could obtain an unrestricted Pilot rating after one year of USAAF service on flying status, provided he met certain flight experience requirements and passed an evaluation board, and some did in fact go on to combat flying assignments.[37] Stewart's first assignment was an appearance at a March of Dimes rally in Washington, D.C., but Stewart wanted assignment to an operational unit rather than serving as a recruiting symbol. He applied for and was granted advanced training on multi-engine aircraft. Stewart was posted to nearby Mather Field to instruct in both single- and twin-engine aircraft.[35]
[38]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._Wings.ogv.jpg
James Stewart in Winning Your Wings (1942)Public appearances by Stewart were limited engagements scheduled by the Army Air Forces. "Stewart appeared several times on network radio with Edgar Bergenand Charlie McCarthy. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, he performed with Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, Walter Huston and Lionel Barrymore in an all-network radio program called We Hold These Truths, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Bill of Rights."[39] In early 1942, Stewart was asked to appear in a film to help recruit the 100,000 airmen the USAAF anticipated it would need to win the war. The USAAF's First Motion Picture Unit shot scenes of Lieutenant Stewart in his pilot's flight jacket and recorded his voice for narration. The short recruitment film Winning Your Wings appeared in movie theaters nationwide beginning in late May and was very successful, resulting in 150,000 new recruits.[40]
[41]

Stewart was concerned that his expertise and celebrity status would relegate him to instructor duties "behind the lines".[42] His fears were confirmed when, after his promotion to first lieutenant on July 7, 1942,[43] he was stationed from August to December 1942 at Kirtland Army Airfield in Albuquerque, New Mexico, piloting AT-11 Kansans used in training bombardiers. He was transferred to Hobbs Army Airfield, New Mexico, for three months of transition training in the four-engine B-17 Flying Fortress, then sent to the Combat Crew Processing Center in Salt Lake City, where he expected to be assigned to a combat unit. Instead, he was assigned in early 1943 to an operational training unit, the 29th Bombardment Group at Gowen Field, Boise, Idaho, as an instructor.[35] He was promoted to captain on July 9, 1943,[43]and appointed a squadron commander.[38] To Stewart, now 35, combat duty seemed far away and unreachable, and he had no clear plans for the future. However, a rumor that Stewart would be taken off flying status and assigned to making training films or selling bonds called for immediate action, because what he dreaded most was "the hope-shattering spectre of a dead end".[44] Stewart appealed to his commander, 30-year-old Lt. Col. Walter E. Arnold Jr., who understood his situation and recommended Stewart to the commander of the 445th Bombardment Group, a B-24 Liberator unit that had just completed initial training at Gowen Field and gone on to final training at Sioux City Army Air Base, Iowa.[45]
[N 3]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...my_Stewart.jpg
Major Jimmy Stewart in 1943In August 1943, Stewart was assigned to the 445th Bomb Group as operations officer of the 703d Bombardment Squadron, but after three weeks became its commander. On October 12, 1943, judged ready to go overseas, the 445th Bomb Group staged to Lincoln Army Airfield, Nebraska. Flying individually, the aircraft first flew to Morrison Army Airfield, Florida, and then on the circuitous Southern Route along the coasts of South America and Africa to RAF Tibenham, Norfolk, England. After several weeks of training missions, in which Stewart flew with most of his combat crews, the group flew its first combat mission on December 13, 1943, to bomb the U-boat facilities at Kiel, Germany, followed three days later by a mission to Bremen. Stewart led the high squadron of the group formation on the first mission, and the entire group on the second.[47] Following a mission to Ludwigshafen, Germany, on January 7, 1944, Stewart was promoted to major.[47]
[N 4] Stewart was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions as deputy commander of the 2nd Combat Bombardment Wing on the first day of "Big Week" operations in February and flew two other missions that week.[49]

On March 22, 1944, Stewart flew his 12th combat mission, leading the 2nd Bomb Wing in an attack on Berlin. On March 30, 1944, he was sent to RAF Old Buckenham to become group operations officer of the 453rd Bombardment Group, a new B-24 unit that had just lost both its commander and operations officer on missions.[50] To inspire the unit, Stewart flew as command pilot in the lead B-24 on several missions deep into Nazi-occupied Europe. As a staff officer, Stewart was assigned to the 453rd "for the duration" and thus not subject to a quota of missions of a combat tour. He nevertheless assigned himself as a combat crewman on the group's missions until his promotion to lieutenant colonel on June 3[43] and reassignment on July 1, 1944, to the 2nd Bomb Wing, assigned as executive officer to Brigadier General Edward J. Timberlake. His official tally of mission credits while assigned to the 445th and 453rd Bomb Groups was 20 sorties.

Stewart continued to go on missions uncredited, flying with the pathfinder squadron of the 389th Bombardment Group, with his two former groups and with groups of the 20th Combat Bomb Wing.[51] He received a second award of the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions in combat and was awarded the French Croix de Guerre. He also was awarded the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters.

Stewart served in a number of staff positions in the 2nd and 20th Bomb Wings between July 1944 and the end of the war in Europe, and was promoted to full colonel on March 29, 1945.[43]
[52] Less than two months later, on May 10, he succeeded to command briefly the 2nd Bomb Wing, a position he held until June 15, 1945.[53] Stewart was one of the few Americans to ever rise from private to colonel in only four years during the Second World War.[12]
[35]

At the beginning of June 1945, Stewart was the presiding officer of the court-martial of a pilot and navigator who were charged with dereliction of duty for having accidentally bombed the Swiss city of Zurichthe previous March—the first instance of U.S. personnel being tried for an attack on a neutral country. The court acquitted the defendants.[54]

Stewart returned to the United States aboard RMS Queen Elizabeth, arriving in New York City on 31 August 1945.[55]

Stewart continued to play a role in the Army Air Forces Reserve following World War II and the new United States Air Force Reserve after the official establishment of the Air Force as an independent service in 1947.

Stewart received permanent promotion to colonel in 1953 and served as Air Force Reserve commander of Dobbins Air Force Base, Georgia, the present day Dobbins Air Reserve Base.[43]
[56] He was also one of the 12 founders and a charter member of the Air Force Association in October 1945. Stewart rarely spoke about his wartime service, but did appear in January 1974 in an episode of the TV series The World At War, "Whirlwind: Bombing Germany (September 1939 – April 1944)", commenting on the disastrous mission of October 14, 1943, against Schweinfurt, Germany. At his request, he was identified only as "James Stewart, Squadron Commander" in the documentary.[57]
[58]

On July 23, 1959, Stewart was promoted to brigadier general. During his active duty periods, he remained current as a pilot of Convair B-36 Peacemaker, Boeing B-47 Stratojet and Boeing B-52 Stratofortress intercontinental bombers of the Strategic Air Command.[59] On February 20, 1966, Brigadier General Stewart flew as a non-duty observer in a B-52 on an Arc Light bombing mission during the Vietnam War. He refused the release of any publicity regarding his participation, as he did not want it treated as a stunt, but as part of his job as an officer in the Air Force Reserve.

Stewart, however, often did his part in publicizing and promoting military service in general and the United States Air Force in particular. In 1963, for example, as part of the plot in an episode of the popular television sitcom My Three Sons, Stewart appeared as himself in his brigadier-general's uniform to address high-school students about the importance of science in society and about the many accomplishments of the select group of so-called "eggheads" being educated at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.[60] Five years later, after 27 years of service, Stewart officially retired from the Air Force on May 31, 1968.[61] Stewart received a number of awards during his military service and upon his retirement was also awarded the United States Air Force Distinguished Service Medal. On May 23, 1985, President Ronald Reagan awarded Stewart the Presidential Medal of Freedom and promoted him to Major General on the Retired List.[62]

REF https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_...litary_service

WanderOO #88 Different chap. Ours would have been at Primary School then.
Route Maps were still being used on 10 Sqn in 1983. I do not know when the practice stopped. Probably when the stock of maps ran out and nobody would authorise a new buy.

Tengah Type, possibly the worst 101 trolley tart was 'Bunter'. He starred on one trip by plonking down a cup of tea on Tony Binn's chart and log, slopping much of it over said documents. Then handed the Captain a brimming cup, which he spilled over his hand... "Get this idiot off the flight deck!", came the plaintive cry from the Captain.

On another trip we'd been diverted to Lincoln, Nebraska. Where, as you will no doubt recall, huge corn-fed beef steak is readily available. So impressed was Bunter with the steaks he acquired, that he forgot to buy anything else for the trip up to Goose!

'Route Progess' charts seemed to have died out in my final years on the VC10. However, I'd kept half-a-dozen or so, thus when I flew a Gp Capt back from Cranwell to pre-pongo Abingdon, I handed him one at around Cottesmore, showing our route progress on the standard chart! He did at least see the funny side!

Back in the 50s, the days of Transport Command, 'lunch boxes' were the order of the day. 'Authority' decided that these were to be discontinued in favour of 'dry rations' i.e. tins of comestibles and loaves of bread etc. Unfortunately, as is the way with 'Authority', this change was introduced without briefing the crews. Thus it was that pre-flighting our Valetta for the Riyan, Salalah, Sharjah, with a load of hungry 'pongos', I found a HUGE tin of ham, half a dozen loaves of weevil ridden bread, several tins of Heinz mixed salad 'goop' and NO tin opener, NO knives of any sort and, of course no plates or cutlery. As Siggy/Pilot Assistant/ dogsbody etc. it fell to me to sort this lot out. Pongos have bayonets, so bread knife sorted. bayonets can stab tins, so tin opener sorted. Result was 'doorsteps' of enormous and irregular construction which were gratefully received by our pax but equally gratefully declined by Skipper and Nav and self! An aircraft which has catering facilties limited to a Type 52 resistance which could heat a can of soup in 45 minutes is not best suited to 'dry rations'!
Later, on the sumptuously appointed Beverley, (ONE water boiler!) our 'AQMs' (some, at least) could manufacture remarkable meals. One such was served , in the freight bay, seated at table, courtesy of a load of furniture being returned to UK. "Just popping downstairs for lunch" the call of gentlemen aviators!:ok:

Shades of Sunderlands which had a wardroom, so did the Shackleton but the Nimrod had to make do with a galley.

Does that imply that the other ranks were not allowed in? Did they have their own messdeck?

My late Father-in-Law was a Sunderland Navigator/Chef of some repute, apparently.

During the squabble between Mintoff and Carrington in the early 70's about the Nimrods using Luqa airfield. my crew were the first to fly out of Malta and land at Sigonella. Several days ensued whilst a commcen was established at Sigonella (initially using the aeroplane and then in a big green tent) and we were billeted in the Central Palace in Catania. Natural curiosity led to familiarity with the P3 crews based in Sig and quite a few of the Americans were keen to find out what the inside of the Nimrod was really capable of. This preamble has a catering angle - our brass had made arrangements for lunch boxes from Alitalia in Catania Fontanarossa and these were duly delivered to Sig. Witnness - one thin turkey crustless dried out sandwich, and angel cake (similarly dessicated) a strange italian biscuit and a small bottle of cheapo vino.

For a nine hour sortie ? Really.

Luckily the knockers and our newly found american friends who were coming on the first Nimrod flight with Sig as a base had a pre flight breakfast meal in the Flight Diner followed by a post flight Steak and anything else you wanted. The cost : Free for enlisted men and after further enquiries one dollar each for Officers. We had a really good crew so I told the officers on our crew (only)about this facility. Unfortunately the facility was slightly spoiled when the word got out and people came to work in the morning at Sig bringing their overalls and pretending they were going to the Pre Flight Diner and operating that day, even though they were not flying that week.
The Italian Lunch boxes did continue for a week or so until the bills arrived, I think they were the equivalent of £18 per box and if you wanted tea or instant coffee it was extra.

I can't speak for Maritime Shacks - but there was nothing on the AEW Shack that could remotely be described as a 'wardroom'. While I was there ('74-'81), the crews were all officer, save for the Flight Engineer position which was filled either by an officer or, more usually, a Master or an NCO.

I saw the galley on the Sunderland at the RAF Museum and beliive me, the designer of the Nimrod Galley still had a lot to
learn. Whenever we carried flyaway ground crew, the only place to sit was in the 4 place galley or on the extra Dinghy over the spar.
so if you were part of the operating crew, when your meal was ready, you ate it at your position. One flight out of Masirah, the ground crew tried to
help by dishing out the starters, (Crayfish Salad) and there were boxes of crayfish, boxes of salad, and boxes of tubs of dressing. The six boxes of crayfish were devoured by the groundcrew, and the rest of us had salad and dressing. On another escapade, one of the groundcrew put some tins of soup in the oven.
Unopened. Don't ever let them near the Rima Grill. The next thing you would have was an underfloor fire / smoke warning.

That just gives us groundcrew a bad name, what on earth were they thinking, fancy putting the dressing on your salad and not on the crayfish... Shame on them.

You obviously did not spend enough time in the galley. The double bench seat and drop down table had Wardroom above them.

Going back to the Sunderland, I was told by the late Gp Capt Jasper Coates, who during the war had commanded 120 Sqn and the Sunderland Operational Training Unit at Alness, that many Sunderland air gunners failed the course because they couldn't cook.

Deci, Sqn arrives and promptly struck down by the squirts... Turns out a lump of roast chicken was found festering under the water bottle in the block when it was changed. Sqn leaving suspected, but 17 shall remain nameless....ohhh err.
Gets up needing a drink of water at gawd knows what time, bimbles down the hall in the dark, takes cup and fills it, downs in one to quench my thirst, and nearly throws it back up as someone has emptied the bottle and filled it with Deci Red to keep it chilled.

Pre RAF this one... School cruise around the Med, 1st meal at sea, Steak and kidney pie, roasties and peas, covered with lashings of thick gravy....... takes a mouthful to discover the gravy is chocolate sauce, look forlornly at my lovely sponge cake covered in chocolate sauce and our worst fears are realised.

Written in chinagraph? Think you're mistaken.. that area was never called the Wardroom (and I served my time in the galley!)
Perhaps Wensleydale could throw his £0.02-worth in.. (no stranger to the galley he!)

Definitely not chinagraph but properly produced label.

Nutty, South Cerney, lunch food served, we all filed past the serving line collecting spud, veg and steak & pigmy, topped of with a ladle of rhubarb sauce.

Operation Deny Flight saw half of 101 Sqn deploy to Sigonella, the other half of the Squadron was already deployed to either Incirlik or Bahrain. The Sqn Cdr obtained a very good rate for the detachment at the Sheraton Catania with everybody on Daily Messing Rates. After about a week a team from Command Accounts arrived to assess the situation. They negotiated "cheaper" rates at other hotels, which would have split the Det, with all the Comms and Transport problems that entailed. Until it was pointed out that we were paying less than that anyway!
They then organised that all 3 meals would be taken in the hotel, so no need to pay DMR, saving money. Only problem was that the Det was working irregular hours over a 24 hr period and hotel working normal hours. Day shift left the hotel several hours ahead of normal Breakfast time and hotel could make no provision. They were then reimbursed for the cost of Breakfast at the McDonalds on base. The night shift returned well before Breakfast time, so "relaxed" in their rooms until arriving at Breakfast in a very "relaxed" state to the chagrin of the normal paying guests. Breakfast took about two hours to serve and eat. They slept through lunch and then left the hotel before Dinner - more actuals.
The Dinner meal could consist of an icecream scoop of Calamari for starter, a slice of cold ham and a ring of tomato for main, followed by a 2 inch square 1/2 inch thick slice of gateaux for sweet. Wine was not included, but there was no limit on soft drinks. To give some quantity to the meal vast amounts of bread were eaten and lots of Coke was drunk
( Hip Flasks may have been used). Three Cokes were about the price of a bottle of wine, we drank about 6 Cokes each. With 30 people arriving at the same time the waiting staff could not cope and Dinner took two hours. Also there was no provision for, the Vegetarians or those with allergies. They dined elsewhere on actuals.
The result we lost money, the hotel lost money, the waiters received no tips and the RAF paid a lot more!! They probably got MBEs for their work!!

Ah yes. From scratch (and the odd tin): Bacon, Sausage, Eggs, Tomatoes and mushrooms for the whole crew served 20 minutes after take-off! Bacon rolled into curls and placed fat upwards in a tin tray (Save the fat for roasted tinned potatoes later in the flight). Sausages baked in butter in a tin tray (Compo Sausages if available - if not, fresh). Eggs in a paper cup in the oven (or poached in the cup with water from the boiler if the oven was too full). Tinned mushrooms baked in butter in the oven and tinned tomatoes warmed through in the oven. The oven had six shelves and two tin trays fitted on each shelf (but bear in mind that the more food in the oven then the less hot air and the food took longer) Never mind how good (or bad) you were at weapons control or voicetel - cook a good meal for the crew and you are in!! (Tell that to the FC branch with all their pre-prepared warm in the oven food in the E-3)!

I must confess that I do not remember the Wardroom label either. I wonder if the Coventry Shack has one?

As an adjunct to my post about cooking in the Shack.... I seem to remember that not long after the E-3 came into service, some chump decided that the galley slave could no longer cook for the whole crew unless he/she had completed a catering food handling course. This resulted in the pre-packed warm through TV dinners produced by inflight rather than raw rations. Later on, the food handling course reared its ugly head again, but the argument that each crew member was responsible for cooking their own meal defeated the notion once more. This still didn't stop some of the Sentry's airborne technicians producing some excellent steaks etc from raw rations for the crew when deployed on operations and the crew busy coordinating the war.

WD, you missed a treat. My daughter ran the food handling courses. Remember, the essence ingredient is good ☺.

She did one of the food hygiene courses and came home resolved to buy a new fridge ☺, but resisted the urge.

Had Captain Mac pushed hard at the outset you might have had a couple of flight attendants add to the E3D!

Slight tangent, but there is the apocryphal story of the Nimrod crossing the Atlantic and was met by a USAF F16. The F16 pilot was keen to show off what his little fighter could do so set off on a series of aerobatics around the Nimrod. After a few minutes he pulled up alongside the mighty hunter and radiod across "Bet you can't do that". The Nimrod pilot agreed but then said "Bet you can't do this". The F16 kept pace with the Nimrod for a few minutes with nothing outwardly apparent happening, before the Nimrod pilot came back on the air and said "So can you do that?

"What did you do?" asked the F16 pilot

"Went down the back, had a sh!t and a steak sandwich" replied the Nimrod pilot.

F16 leaves at speed and in the huff...

Ogre, similar to the Tanker "munch, munch" story.

On another similar tangent....a Shackleton was sent to Cyprus to support an F4 APC training det, and one of the female ATC controllers was taken along for a flight on one of the sorties. She was sitting in the co-pilot's seat when one of the F4s asked if he could formate on the Shackleton for a photo-op after his serial (The Shack carried a nice big camera). As the F4 came up, the captain asked the passenger if she would like to take off her helmet and fluff out her long bond hair for the F4 crew. "I can do better than that" she said, unzipping her flying suit...….. I understand that there were a good few formation requests after that. (Story courtesy of the late and sadly missed Beery).

Very early days as a Boy Entrant at Yatesbury.
I put white sauce on my cauliflower, like my mum used to do.

It was Rice Pudding!

The Sqn Armourers at Bruggen were a sight to behold, the first armourer would plate up his lunch, roast beef and custard, with apple tart and curry and pass that to the man behind him, this went down the line until the last man would pass his selection to the first, they would then sit down and eat some of the worst concoctions imaginable.

Strange lot, they used to have one of those thick Starsky and Hutch woollen jumpers like this below and when off shift they would pick one of their number to wear it all day, he would then pick the next days person, you would be sitting on the beach or walking around Deci and the armourers would wander past in shorts and teeshirts etc, all except one of them who would be sweltering wearing one of those heavy knit jumpers done up, they used to get some strange stares downtown Cags

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/sowAA...ikV/s-l300.jpg